Bureaucratese

When accurate communication could prove ruinous, bureaucrats often resort to confusing euphemisms to smooth the harshness of truth. The strange language they use is called “bureaucratese.”

For instance, Congress presented the administration a badly mangled budget for 2025. That budget, now burdened with revelations about our legislators signing blank pages and likely facing questions of constitutionality, was duly signed by President Marcos before the year ended.

Now, the administration is describing the national budget as “suboptimal.” That might be a better term than simply calling it a “total mess” put together by completely cavalier legislators.

To correct the “suboptimal” budget, the President’s men are now trying to reallocate money to fund programs abandoned by Congress. This could precipitate a second tier of constitutionality cases covering the allocation of unallocated funds.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) now adds to the thick bureaucratese spilling out from this administration.

No one really understood what “Suggested Retail Price” (SRP) is. On one hand, it is not really price control which runs against the function of a free market. But it surely is a blunt instrument for coercing small retailers to conform with government’s idea of what the prices of things should be.

Now the DA introduces the notion of a “Maximum Suggested Retail Price” (MSRP) to set an upper limit for how much rice could be sold. How this could even be enforceable is a mystery. Should government crack down hard on poor retailers selling above MSRP, the effort will only force the rice trade underground. The staple will be sold much like illegal drugs or illicit tobacco products are – at wildly uncontrolled prices. 

For many days now, the DA has been threatening to declare a rice “emergency.” After some decoding of bureaucratese, it turns out that what this means is to authorize the release of NFA rice stocks to flood the market and force down prices – at great loss to government, of course.

The declaration of an “emergency” is stalled because of a minor problem. The NFA is mandated to maintain buffer stocks of the politically sensitive food staple. After it sells down its current stock, how will it replenish?

Armed with stronger measures against “agricultural economic sabotage,” government has been raiding warehouses and confiscating rice stocks arbitrarily considered as “hoarded.” To manage their own business risks, rice traders have reduced the rice stocks they keep – making all of us vulnerable in the event of a calamity.

After the NFA sells down its current stock, where will it buy rice to replace the buffer stock? Certainly not from the depleted commercial warehouses. No one seems to have a viable answer to that question. 

Boon

In many ways, Abra is like the Samar provinces. The terrain is rough and the soil is highly mineralized. Agriculture will not be the way to prosperity.

In the Samar provinces, militant bishops have managed to hinder the growth of mining – the only way to bring prosperity to the land. In Abra and nearby provinces, investments in mining promise a way out of misery.

Mining, as we know, elevated Baguio to the prosperous city it now is. Abra could now aspire for that, with its breathtaking landscape and rich cultural heritage. Exploration confirmed the province holds great mineral wealth.

A mining venture, Yamang Mineral Corporation (YMC), is now in the late stages of commencing mining activities in the province. YMC is a subsidiary of UK-based Metals Exploration Plc (MEP). This is the same company that owns FCF Minerals Corporation (FCF), operating the highly successful Runruno Gold-Molybdenum Project in Nueva Viscaya.

Since commencing operations in 2017, the Runruno operation has contributed over P5.71 billion in taxes and duties. These help fuel national and local development initiatives. About 79 percent of this project’s 1,145-strong workforce are locals. It has created meaningful employment, uplifting the communities around the project site.

In addition to creating jobs and generating revenues, FCF’s social development and management program has invested over P543.37 million in community initiatives. These initiatives range from scholarships for indigenous students to vital infrastructure such as farm-to-market roads. Abra will benefit from the same transformative programs when commercial activities begin at the YMC site.

The Philippines has among the world’s toughest mining laws that require environmental remediation and community benefits. The Runruno project, using pioneering eco-friendly technologies, has been recognized for its adherence to our mining laws. It has won its third consecutive Presidential Mineral Industry Environmental Award for Surface Mining Operations. The company likewise received recognition from the ASEAN Mineral Awards.

The investors commit to making the YMC project in Abra as exemplary.

MEP president Darren Bowden marvels at the mineral deposits of Abra. The province, he observes “holds immense potential for responsible and sustainable mineral development.”

Abra, it turns out, has one of the world’s largest critical mineral reserves. The investors believe the province could position as a pivotal player in the global minerals market. With all the environmental regulations governing mining in this country, the investment could evolve a sustainable model where the environment, the economy and the communities thrive together.

Abra’s leaders and its people must be empowered to ensure sustainability and environmental standards are constantly observed. The province’s rich natural heritage need not be lost even as its economic potential is unlocked.

This should be good news for a province that once seemed condemned to the backwaters of our economic mainstream.